The quantity of sand you take around the ball is really key for clean bunker shots. If you take too much sand, the leading edge of the club digs into the bunker and the shot won’t have enough force to get the ball out far enough. But the opposite doesn’t work either because if you try to add too much force you end up flipping the hand and the ball blades across the green.

We want to take the right amount of sand to get the ball out cleanly so helpful when you are practicing your bunker shots to draw a small pancake sized circle and that’s how much sand I really want to try to get out. I use the bounce (the front sole) of the wedge and take a pancake sized amount of sand out of the bunker.

So, if you want to hit the ball cleanly out of the bunker, work on drawing a circle around your ball and take that amount of sand out on your next greenside bunker shot.